Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business Review

Capital One Spark Miles Select for business expenses earning travel rewards.

Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business Pros and Cons

If you’re in need of a new business credit card, one popular choice is the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business. Since the card you choose has a big effect on the amount of travel rewards you earn and your redemption opportunities, it’s important to pick one that fits your needs.

While the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business is a good card, it won’t be right for everyone. It is important to consider how different business credit cards report to the credit bureaus. Check out our review to figure out whether you should apply or keep looking. If you have a fair credit score, the Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business is a better option.

Features of the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business

Here are the key features for this Capital One business credit card:

  • Earn 1.5 miles per dollar spent on all your purchases (there are no limits on this)
  • Earn a 20,000-mile signup bonus for spending $3,000 in the first three months that you have the card
  • No annual fee
  • 0-percent annual percentage rate (APR) for the first nine months that you have the card
  • After introductory period, variable APR of 14.24 to 22.24 percent
  • Employee cards are free and also earn miles for your account
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Redeem miles for travel, gift cards or cash (transferring miles is another option)

Redeeming Miles

The best way to redeem your miles is towards travel purchases. There are two ways you can do this.

You can apply your miles as credits to any travel purchases on your statement. Capital One has a broad definition of travel purchases. Besides flights and hotel stays, you could also put your miles towards taxi bills, rideshares and vacation rentals. Miles are worth 1 cent each when you redeem them this way.

Your other travel redemption option is to book a flight or hotel through the Capital One travel portal. When you do this, you again get a value of 1 cent per mile, and you’re simply applying your miles towards the cost of whatever you book. It’s generally better to use the first travel redemption option though, because you can often earn points or cash back through online travel agencies when you book directly through them. You won’t be able to do this if you go through Capital One’s travel portal.

You get 1 cent per mile when you redeem miles for a gift card. This usually isn’t a good choice, since gift cards are often available at a discount. Redeeming miles for cash only gets you a low 0.5 cents per mile. If you’re interested in cash back, you’re better off with the Capital One Spark Cash Back Rewards card.

Now that you know how the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business works, let’s look at its pros and cons.

Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business Pros

This card’s biggest selling point is undoubtedly its simplicity. In a world where credit cards can have kinds of different benefits and bonus categories, the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business earns you a solid rewards rate without charging you an annual fee.

If you need some short-term business financing, the 0-percent APR for nine months is perfect for that. Just make sure you get your balance paid off before any interest kicks in.

It’s nice to get as many employee cards as you need without a fee. Should any cards become lost or stolen, there’s also fraud protection.

Redeeming your miles is a breeze, because even on travel purchases, you’re essentially just turning them into cash. You don’t need to spend hours searching for the right award ticket or hotel booking like you would with other reward programs.

Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business Cons

In a way, a couple of this card’s biggest benefits are also its most glaring weaknesses.

As a base rewards rate, 1.5 miles per dollar spent is great. The base rate on most credit cards is 1 point/mile per dollar spent. The problem is that many credit cards have bonus categories where they earn higher reward rates. The Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business does not.

There are several cards out there that earn 2 or 3 points per dollar spent in select spending categories. In all fairness, they typically include an annual fee, as well. Still, you want to compare your usual business spending to the rewards rates offered by different business credit card applications. Look to see if there’s an option that will earn you substantial bonus points.

Although redeeming your Capital One miles is easy to do, you can’t score the great deals you could through other reward programs. With Chase Ultimate Rewards points and American Express Membership Rewards points, you’re free to transfer your points to any of their transfer partners and book travel directly through those partners. This often leads to bookings where you get a far better value than 1 cent per mile, which is an opportunity you won’t have with this card.

Capital One® Spark® Miles Select for Business Final Verdict

Considering it doesn’t have an annual fee and has a solid base rewards rate, the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business card is a worthy addition to your wallet. It’s an especially good choice if you’d prefer to keep it simple and avoid jumping down the credit card rabbit hole, so to speak.

If you want to maximize your rewards and your award booking opportunities, then this card wouldn’t be the right fit. It would be smarter to find a card through Chase or American Express with more versatile points/miles and bonus categories to earn you extra points.

Keep in mind that even if you go the above route, you could get a Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business card and use it for purchases where you’d only earn 1 point/mile from your other credit cards. You can use your other cards for their bonus categories. Your Capital One card for its higher base rate on everything else, giving you the best of both worlds.

CreditFast has reviewed the best business credit cards on the market. Some of the credit card offers are from our advertising partners. CreditFast has objectively reviewed the features and benefits of each business credit card. We have chosen credit card offers based on our editor’s recommendations.

Monica Kowollik

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